Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi says the iRacing IndyCar Challenge will be one-off for him as he is OK to compete in ESports races until real racing kicks-in.
While the outbreak of COVID-19 has been a devastating blow to the world we live in, there are some things that we will be able to take away from this experience once we see the other side of it, even though that point cannot come soon enough.
One of such things will be the rise of ESports, which we now know can be used to whet the appetite of motorsport fans whenever the world is devoid of racing, such as in the off-season, whether F1 or IndyCar or MotoGP.
Having now had this experience, organising a race like the American Red Cross Grand Prix it will be easier in the future, and this may make it appealing to a series like IndyCar as they do their best to keep fans entertained in the winter months as well if needed.
And, considering this, Andretti’s Rossi has voiced support for an off-season IndyCar ESports series similar to what they are doing now but the American made it clear that he has no big interest in doing this or even future ones and would rather get into real action soon.
“I think right now we have a really cool opportunity where there’s not a lot of sports on television, so people are obviously stuck at home, they don’t have a lot of choices as to what they’re going to do,” started Rossi.
“People that may have not necessarily known about or cared about motorsports before or watched an IndyCar race before would tune in because at the end of the day they don’t really have much else to watch and they could fall in love with the sport.
“What we could see is a big increase especially in a younger audience who are already pretty big into watching people on Twitch and virtual gaming and paying attention to that. I think if we do this right and we’re able to put on a good show for the next couple of months, we can really grow and introduce ourselves to a new fan base, a different fan base.
“I don’t know the technology is necessarily there to have something to go on with kind of, like, augmented reality or anything. I think in terms of fan engagement, the potential for new people and new eyeballs, it’s pretty high.
“I think that’s the most exciting part of all of this. As long as racing returns to normal, I don’t think I’ll be doing this again.” Rossi did take part in last weekend’s event where he finished only 17th – he admitted that he not a big gamer.
Here’s Top 3 finishers from last weekend on retire racers
Here’s a video recap of the first iRacing IndyCar Challenge
